Men's Olympic Sports Student-Athletes Honored

May 8, 2002

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV Athletics Department hosted its annual awards banquet for its men's Olympic sports teams Tuesday at the Foundation Building on campus. Student-athletes from each sport were honored for their accomplishments in their respective sports.

Rookie of the Year, Coach's and Most Valuable Player awards were presented by each sport's head coach. In addition, the nominees for the UNLV Olympic Sportsman of the Year award were announced.

Tennis' Thomas Schneiter and swimming's Jacint Simon are the nominees for this year's Sportsman of the Year award, which will be announced following the completion of all spring sports.

Schneiter is the 2002 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Mountain Region Farnsworth Senior Player of the Year after posting a 22-7 overall record that included a 15-4 mark at the No. 1 singles position. The two-time All-Mountain West Conference honoree's final campaign included a 9-2 record vs. regional opponents and an upset of the nation's top-ranked player, Al Garland of Pepperdine.

Simon is a 2002 All-Mountain West Conference First Team honoree in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 400 freestyle relay and 800 freestyle relay. He captured the conference's 200 freestyle title for the third straight year and won his third straight All-American honor in the 200 freestyle this season. Simon also was named the MWC Men's Swimmer of the Year for the third straight year.

2001-02 UNLV Men's Olympic Sports Awards

Baseball
Rookie: 	Joe Wickman
Coach's:	Eric Nielsen
M.V.P.: 	Ryan Ruiz

Golf
Rookie: 	Ryan Moore
Coach's:	Clark Corbett
M.V.P.: 	Ryan Moore

Rodeo
Rookie: 	Jack Vanderlans
Coach's:	Jason Robeck
M.V.P.: 	Charles Rich

Soccer
Rookie: 	Brendon Bain
Coach's:	None
M.V.P.: 	Jason Melendez

Swimming/Diving
Rookie: 	Patrick Adams
Coach's:	Travis Kummer
M.V.P.: 	Andrew Livingston

Tennis
Rookie: 	Aviram Salomon
Coach's:	Andreas Maurer
M.V.P.: 	Thomas Schneiter